Glossary
Information Barriers
Microsoft Purview policies that prevent specific groups from communicating or collaborating across Microsoft 365.
Information Barriers (IB) in Microsoft Purview prevent specific groups of users from communicating or collaborating across Microsoft 365 — Teams chat, channels, meetings, calls, SharePoint sites, OneDrive sharing. Used for ethical walls in financial services (research analysts cannot collaborate with investment banking), legal-conflict isolation, M&A confidentiality, and similar regulatory firewall scenarios. Configured as segments (queries over Entra ID attributes defining who's on each side) and policies (block / allow between segment pairs). Enforces silently — blocked users don't see each other in search, files, or invitations. Requires Microsoft 365 E5, E5 Compliance, or specific Purview add-on licensing.